Painted fashion

Magazine Antiques, May, 2003 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

In 1864 when James McNeil Whistler exhibited the languorous painting illustrated at right at the Royal Academy in London, a critic remarked: "The picture is among the finest pieces of colour in the Exhibition--see the beautiful harmonies of the woman's robes." By this time Whistler had been collecting Japanese and Chinese objects for more than a year, among them the embroidered Chinese robe worn over a black Japanese kimono depicted in the painting. The kimono reappeared in other works, most often worn by the sitter, but in his famous portrait of his mother, it hangs on the wall.

Whistler's fascination with women's fashion is the subject of a tightly focused exhibition on view at the Frick Collection in New York City through July 13. Entided Whistler, Women, and Fashion, it includes eight oil portraits of women and sixty-three other works: prints, drawings, pastel studies, watercolors, costume designs, fashion plates, and costumes. It is the first exhibition to examine this topic and provides fascinating insi ghts into this central aspect of Whistler's aesthetic. The show concentrates on the years between the mid-1860s and 1900.

The exhibition commences with the 1864 portrait of Whistler's mistress Joanna Hiffernan in a work entitled Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl. In it she poses in a white muslin gown that recalls the diaphanous, classically inspired dresses depicted in paintings by Pre-Raphaelite artists. In 1874 Whistler completed Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Mrs Frederick R. Leyland, (illustrated above) in which the sitter is shown wearing a tea gown designed by the artist in an interior also of his making. In concert with the principles of the aesthetic movement, the dress and the interior combine to create a total work of art. The tea gown was at the height of fashion at this time, but it was only worn at home. Therefore painting her in this intimate garment was a particularly audacious move. There are numerous surviving sketches for this painting, most of which make clear (because they are faceless) that Whistler spent a great deal of time working out the pose and the dress. A portrait of about the same date of the eight-year-old Cicely Alexander provides excellent documentation for the artist's preoccupation with costume. A letter written by Whistler's mother to Mrs. Alexander on Whistler's behalf gives in minute detail the artist's directives for the dress he wished to paint, even providing a sketch.

From the stark white dresses of the 1860s Whistler turned to somber tones of black, punctuated by shades of brown. There are some twenty works painted in the 1870s and 1880s that capture women in street clothes or riding habits that were new to the fashion scene. In the ensuing decade Whistler returned to the works of the Spanish painters Diego Velazquez and Francisco de Goya from whom he derived much inspiration. The last portrait in the exhibition, entitled Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian (1888-1900) depicts Whistler's sister-in-law Ethel Birnie Philips. During the 1890s there was a vogue for things Spanish that encompassed everything from music and dancing to flamenco dresses. In this portrait, Philips is depicted in an evening dress that is evocative of this uniquely Spanish dance.

The exhibition is accompanied by an excellent catalogue that includes contributions by Margaret F MacDonald, Susan Grace Galassi, Aileen Ribeiro, Patricia de Moatfort, and Helen M. Burnham. It may be obtained by telephoning 212-547-6848.

A conference on dress and art will be held at the Frick Collection on June 7. Nine speakers will present talks that focus on artists such as Holbein, Titian, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Gainsborough, David, and Whistler. For information or to register, telephone 212-547-6848.

RELATED ARTICLE

Purple and Rose. The Lange Leizen of the Six Marks, by James MeNeill 'Whistler (1834-1903), 1864. Oil on canvas, 363/4 by 24 1/8 inches.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson collection.

Symphony in Flesh Colour and Pink: Mrs Frederick R. Leyland, by Whistler, 1871-1874. Signed with the artist's butterfly at center right. Oil on canvas, 77 1/8 by 40 1/4 inches. Frick Collection, New York City.